Concurrent Sessions
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday
10:30 – 12:00 PM ET
Opening Plenary: The New Breed of Volunteers
Thomas McKee, Advantage Point Systems/Volunteer Power, Orangevale, CA
12:00 – 12:30 PM ET
Break
12:30 – 2:00 PM ET
2A - Hospice Volunteer Training: Increasing the Effectiveness of your Training Program
Valerie Gibson, BA, MS, Suncoast Hospice, Clearwater, FL
This session will examine how to create a volunteer training program that meets the needs of your organization increases the confidence and skills of your volunteers and measures the effectiveness of your training program.
- Create learning objectives to guide training priorities
- Prepare and implement meaningful training outcome tools
- Implement post-training opportunities for reinforcing and continuing learning
2B - Extraordinary Ideas to Kindle Your Volunteer Program Today
Mauna M. Cowan, BS, Parkview Home Health & Hospice, Fort Wayne, IN
Barbara Fike, MBA, Volunteer Covenant Hospice, Inc, Pensacola, FL
Many of the ideas discussed today may not be new and may even be called ordinary even though they are used by programs around the country. The important question today is “What is your hospice volunteer program doing from ordinary to extraordinary to fan the flames of passion for you and your volunteers?” Passion can revive your energy and revolutionize your program from ordinary to EXTRAORDINARY!
- Identify one patient care related idea to develop in the next six months
- Describe one administrative or office related idea to develop in the next six months
- Discuss one extraordinary idea to begin development on today
2:00 – 2:30 PM ET
Break
2:30 – 3:30 PM ET
3A - Engaging with Faith: Multiplying Volunteers through Effective Faith Community Outreach
James Brooks, MDiv, AARP, Richmond, VA
Although many hospices reach out to faith communities, much potential remains untapped! This session will explore the key factors you need to know to engage volunteers effectively through faith communities. We will discuss the current realities faith communities’ face, strategies for getting in the door and successful model programs and tools. Whether you are new to faith community engagement or looking for new ideas, this session will refresh your vision for engaging with faith communities.
- Identify key factors that make faith communities natural partners for engaging volunteers and providing end of life outreach
- Discuss and evaluate successful model programs and resources for engaging faith communities
- Apply customized strategies and approaches to engaging volunteers through faith communities
3B - Complementary Therapies: Designing, Funding, Training and Integrating a Volunteer Program into your Hospice Services
Valerie Hartman RN, CHPN, CTRN, Holy Redeemer Hospice, Philadelphia, PA
Becky Lundsford, Covenant Hospice, Pensacola, FL
Clara Brosnaham Reeves, LMT, CRT, Covenant Hospice, Pensacola, FL
Complementary Therapies have taken their place as valuable resources that enhance the hospice experience, providing symptom control, support and emotional comfort at the end of life. Today it is widely recognized that complementary modalities ease the nervous system’s response to fear, nurture and provide expressive outlets for those we care for in all stages of the dying process. Many hospice organizations would like to see complementary therapy use expand into mainstream practices with regular access to massage, music, art, pet therapies and others. One way to increase access to complementary care is to focus the vision and grow a formal Complementary Therapy Volunteer Program. In this presentation, you will learn about sustainable program models and identify the steps needed to both develop and integrate them into your hospice services.
- Identify complementary therapy program models that utilize volunteers
- Discuss considerations in leading, training and oversight of the Complementary Therapy Volunteer Program
- Discuss successful models to ensure funding of a Complementary Therapy Volunteer Program
- Describe documentation and competency requirements
3:30 – 4:00 PM ET
Break
4:00 – 5:00 PM ET
4A - From Compassion Fatigue to Compassion Satisfaction
Lisa Scotese Gallagher, RN, BSN, Hospice of the Western Reserve, Inc, Cleveland, OH
As hospice team members you may be experiencing displays of stress resulting from the caregiving work you perform on a regular basis. Having an awareness of the negative effects on your life can lead to positive change, personal transformation and a new resiliency. Learn how to assess compassion fatigue and the techniques to transform compassion fatigue to compassion satisfaction.
- Identify symptoms and causes of compassion fatigue
- State tools available to assess compassion fatigue
- Describe three strategies to support authentic, sustainable self-care practices for yourself and the volunteers you manage
4B: Reminiscence: A Valuable Resource for Bereavement and Long Term Care Planning
Robin Edgar, Healing Power of Reminiscence, Charlotte, NC
During this interactive session, volunteer leaders and managers will learn how they can encourage their volunteers to utilize this simple, yet powerful, method as an effective resource to assist caregivers to cope with loss or change due to illness or death as well as to participate in making well-informed, ethical decisions regarding client care and long term care planning.
- Illustrate how to apply the basic reminiscence principals for children, adults, and seniors to recall significant memories about their loved ones
- Demonstrate how to establish rituals from significant memories to promote long-term bereavement benefits
- Explain how to utilize reminiscence principals to make well-informed, ethical decisions regarding client care and long-term care planning
5:00 – 5:30 PM ET
Break
5:30 – 6:45 PM ET
NCHPP Volunteer/Volunteer Manager Section Meeting: Your Peer Support Group: Sharing Best Practices, Greatest Challenges and Future Opportunities for Hospice Volunteer Leaders!
Moderated by: NCHPP Volunteer/Volunteer Manager Steering Committee
10:30 – 12:00 PM ET
5A - Beyond the Medicare Benefit: Leading Volunteer Programs the Hospice Way
Kathleen Roble, MS, Suncoast Hospice, Clearwater, FL
Even an experienced volunteer leader can become boxed in by regulatory requirements and lose focus about what makes hospice volunteer programs unique. This session is not about what is required by federal, state or accreditation organizations - it’s about how building a strong hospice culture can transform the hospice experience for patients, families and volunteers.
- Define three hospice volunteer manager core competencies
- Discuss the importance of leading and creating culture within a hospice volunteer program
- Formulate a plan to incorporate hospice core values into their own volunteer program
5B - Training, Interviewing, Selection and Placement - Oh My
Jennifer Jackson, MEd, BSW, Clinical Operations - Training/Development, Evercare Hospice & Palliative Care, Reston, VA
This session will provide recommended interviewing and selection process/questions, training material for volunteer orientation and best practices for ensuring competence in placing/assigning and equipping volunteers for specific roles and responsibilities. Faculty will also provide recommendations for developing a well coordinated volunteer plan of care and suggestions for ensuring coordination of care through ongoing documentation.
- Discuss and apply a specific interviewing model for selecting hospice volunteers
- Identify best practices for executing a successful volunteer orientation program
- Describe strategies to ensure competence for completing volunteer assignments
12:00 – 12:30 PM ET
Break
12:30 – 2:00 PM ET
Plenary II: Regulatory Matters for Volunteer Leaders
Judi Lund Person, MPH, National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, Alexandria, VA
2:00 – 2:30 PM ET
Break
2:30 – 4:00 PM ET
Ignite Sessions: Short, focused, fast-paced and dynamic presentations that convey new ideas, tips and strategies
4:00 – 4:30 PM ET
Break
4:30 – 5:30 PM ET
8A - Volunteer Managers Lead the Way in Integrating Volunteers into the Interdisciplinary Team
Sandra L. Huster, BA, Corporate Volunteer, Covenant Hospice, Pensacola, FL
Hospice volunteer managers must first become an integral part of the team before they can lead the way for volunteers to become fully integrated into the IDT. Learn strategies to achieve this goal, including how to relinquish total "ownership" of the volunteer program to the entire team. Leave motivated to put these simple steps to work!
- Discuss barriers to integration of hospice volunteer managers and volunteers into the IDT
- List at least three strategies for increasing volunteer manager and volunteer integration into the team
- Explain the importance of volunteer interventions and documentation as part of the IDT's Plan of Care for patients
8B - Outreach, Marketing and Recruitment – Who Has Time? Volunteers Do!
Kathy Brandt, MS, National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, Alexandria, VA
If you've ever heard or thought "Volunteers can't do marketing!" or "Marketing can only be done by the marketing/sales/outreach staff!" then your program is missing out on a golden opportunity. Volunteers have the time and the passion to be your best marketers. You just have to teach them how. This session will review marketing and outreach strategies and discuss ways to engage your volunteers in the outreach process. Time will also be spent discussing ways to engage your staff colleagues in efforts to promote volunteer outreach.
- Describe the benefits of using volunteers to conduct outreach/marketing
- Identify specific outreach opportunities
- Implement a volunteer outreach strategy
10:30 – 12:00 PM ET
9A - Benchmarking for Success! How Does Your Hospice Volunteer Program Measure Up?
NCHPP Volunteer/Volunteer Management Steering Committee
Do you ever wonder what other hospice volunteer leaders are measuring and reporting? Would you like to have national benchmarks for comparing your own results? Or, are you not sure where to start with all of this? Join members of NCHPP’s Volunteer/Volunteer Management Steering Committee who will share their work with NHPCO to identify national benchmarks for hospice volunteer programs. Learn how you can start or expand benchmarking for success!
- Define “benchmarks” and explain the importance of setting internal and external benchmarks
- Increase knowledge of and access to data provided by NHPCO for establishing national benchmarks for hospice volunteer programs
- Identify at least two internal and external benchmarks that volunteer leaders can set for their programs
- Plan next steps for measuring and reporting program outcomes
9B - How to Become an Organizational Change Leader
Rose Van Der Berg, BA, Hospice of the Comforter Inc., Altamonte Springs, FL
Building a vigorous hospice volunteer program often requires the ability to be a champion for organizational change. Effective change leaders are good at influencing and handling pivotal conversations. This session will review core influencing skills, the importance of pivotal conversations and the role "power style" plays in leading change. Take away a compass of skill sets to guide you in fostering collaborative change to keep your volunteer program dynamic.
- Identify three key influencing skills to develop
- Describe how to recognize and handle pivotal conversations
- Explain two strategic "power style" components
12:00 – 12:30 PM ET
Break
12:30 – 2:00 PM ET
Plenary III: Ignite Your Leadership Potential
Claire B. Tehan, MA, Tehan and Associates, Redondo Beach, CA
2:00 – 2:30 PM ET
Break
2:30– 4:00 PM ET
Ignite Sessions Short, focused, fast-paced and dynamic presentations that convey new ideas, tips and strategies
4:00 – 4:30 PM ET
Break
4:30 – 5:30 PM ET
12A - What Volunteer Leaders and Managers Need to Know
NCHPP Volunteer/Volunteer Manager Steering Committee
Taking on the role of a Hospice Volunteer Leader can be a daunting task! This session will address the foundational knowledge and skills that volunteer leaders need in order to be successful. Explore the core components of volunteer recruitment, training, screening and supervision, while insuring compliance with hospice standards and regulations.
- Identify three successful techniques to increase volunteer recruitment.
- List required topics that must be presented during hospice volunteer training.
- Explain basic screening requirements.
- Implement successful supervisory practices.
- Identify NHPCO’s Hospice Volunteer Program Resource Manual as a tool for Hospice Volunteer Leaders
12B - Competency Assessment and Evaluation of Volunteers
Robert Parker, RN, MSN Ed, CHPN, Asera Care Palliative Care, Austin, TX
At a time when the competition is fierce for drawing individuals into volunteerism; volunteers are more than mandated competency assessments and evaluations. This session will focus on competency assessment and evaluation of your volunteers as a global process that starts with recruitment and interviewing potential volunteer candidates, through ongoing motivation and retention of your volunteers.
- Describe how different groups of people want different things from their experience as a volunteer
- Discuss how to develop individual volunteer opportunities through the competency assessment and evaluation process.
- Tie competency assessment and evaluation processes to organizational culture and individual performance to help enhance volunteer skills.
Volunteer Day
10:30 – 12:00 PM ET
Plenary IV:
Volunteers : The Heart of Hospice - J Donald Schumacher, PsyD
Volunteers: Exceptionalism in Care and Practice - Gary Gardia MEd, LCSW, CT and Danae Delman
12:00 – 12:30 PM ET
Break
12:30 – 1:30 PM ET
V2 - Spirituality at the End of Life
Bonnie Meyer, DMin, BCC, Hospice of the Bluegrass - Lexington, Lexington, KY
Spirituality and religion touch deeply sensitive issues for many people. Facing death and dying can bring up these issues, not just for hospice patients but also for clinicians and volunteers. This session will highlight common spiritual needs and issues at end of life, and provide helpful suggestions for volunteers regarding their interactions with patients.
- Name five or more common spiritual issues at end of life
- Discuss why it is important to carefully respect the religion and spirituality of the patient
- Identify three or more ways to provide spiritual comfort with little risk of causing offense
1:30 – 2:00 PM ET
Break
2:00 – 3:00 PM ET
V3 - Surviving Ourselves - Change, Loss and Self-Compassion
Rex Allen, MA, Providence Hospice of Seattle, Seattle, WA
To effectively hold the stories of others requires a hospice volunteer to have a significant understanding of their own personal story — particularly as it relates to change, loss and grief. This session will offer participants the opportunity to explore the concepts of the wounded healer, disenfranchised grief, compassion fatigue and self-compassion in relationship to personal loss history.
- List the contexts of disenfranchised grief
- Explain the relationship between the archetype of the wounded healer and personal story
- Describe the axioms of compassion fatigue and their relationship to self compassion
3:00 – 3:30 PM ET
Break
3:30 – 4:30 PM ET
V4 - When Communication Is Difficult: Reaching the Cognitively Impaired Patient
Sara Wright, Hospice of Lancaster County, Lancaster, PA
For hospice volunteers as well as staff, the communication essential to making a connection can seem difficult, if not impossible, when the patient has a dementia disease. Understanding the diseases which lead to cognitive impairment is important, but understanding the key to communication is essential. This session will provide participants with skills to communicate differently when there is dementia – to be ‘with patients in the moment’, to use past memories to spark new conversation and to understand even when conversation is no longer possible.
- Utilize skills learned to communicate in ways which allow the patient to feel supported and have a role in his/her care coordination
- Describe the need to validate the patient in his/her reality and provide a caring environment for the patient to express him/herself
- Identify ways which the patient with a dementia disease may be trying to communicate pain, discomfort or other care needs, as well as methods to address the needs in a way which is comforting to the patient
4:30 – 5:00 PM ET
Break
5:00 – 6:00 PM ET
V5: Raising Your Ethical Antennae
Jennifer Ballentine, MA, Life Quality Institute, Denver, CO
Patrice Tadel, MSN, RN, VITAS Innovative Hospice Care, FL
Of all the members of the interdisciplinary team, volunteers spend the longest stretches of time with patients and families. Thus, they are uniquely positioned to pick up on issues that may be impeding care or causing conflict. Sometimes these problems involve ethical issues, but volunteers are not well equipped to identify or articulate ethical dilemmas. This lively presentation will provide a working understanding of healthcare ethics and its role in patient care, as well as real-world tools for recognizing and articulating ethical problems. Case examples of The Disappointed Sister, Culture Clash, Drunk and Disorderly, Suffer in Silence?, and The Tattling Temp will engage learners and reinforce concepts.
- Define "ethics" and how it operates in the healthcare context
- Recognize ethical problems when they arise
- Articulate the problem using the language of ethical principles
- Use knowledge to improve patient care
10:30 – 12:00 PM ET
13A - Facebook, Email & Blogging: Getting and Keeping Volunteers
Natasha Beauchamp, MSc, Elder Pages Online, Sebastopol, CA
As volunteers become more "wired," volunteer coordinators are challenged to keep up with the times. Learn about the pros and cons of email, Facebook and blogging for recruitment, retention and basic communication. Discover creative ways to engage volunteers as well as the do's and don'ts of HIPAA online. This will be a strategy class, NOT a workshop on the mechanics of building a Facebook page. No programming experience is required. Familiarity with Facebook and blogs is a plus, but not necessary.
- Explain how social media differs from standard Internet tools (websites and email)
- Identify at least five online engagement practices
- Describe online policies required to stay HIPAA compliant
13B – Practical Solutions to Difficult Situations: Working with Challenging Volunteers
Sarah Varick CAVS, HospiceCare of Boulder and Broomfield Counties, Lafayette, CO
What’s even more difficult than navigating the regulatory waters of the healthcare industry??? Addressing performance issues with the people who are giving generously of their time and talents to volunteer for our organizations. There are many reasons we find it difficult to manage challenging volunteers – our own avoidance of conflict and fear of being the “bad guy”, a climate of lower expectations for volunteers (they’re “just” volunteers so we can’t expect them to….) and our own busy schedules. This session will give participants practical solutions for working with challenging volunteers.
- Learn three ways to prevent potential performance management issues.
- Learn a seven step process for managing a performance management issue.
- Develop a form to document a performance improvement plan.
12:00 – 12:30 PM ET
Break
12:30 – 2:00 PM ET
14A - Firing Up Your Volunteers: Going Beyond Ordinary to Extraordinary - Extra Hands at the Bedside
Gina L. Kasch, BS, Volunteer, Hospice of Northwest Ohio, Perrysburg, OH
Diane Doyle, RN, Hospice of Northwest Ohio, Perrysburg, OH
Firing up your volunteers!! Make the most of your current volunteers in an inpatient unit setting - train them with a competency based "hands on" program that will enhance their volunteering experience and assist staff with patient care and select tasks.
- Identify potential barriers that may hinder volunteers from taking more active roles in providing care to patients in an inpatient unit setting
- Identify at least three strategies to improve volunteer involvement within an inpatient unit setting
- Demonstrate the overall value of a “hands-on” volunteer program
14B - Dotted Lines, Curbs and Guardrails: Boundaries for Volunteers
Patti Anewalt, PhD, LPC, FT, Hospice of Lancaster County, Lancaster, PA
Are you clear about your boundaries in your work as a hospice professional? Do volunteers always maintain good professional boundaries with the families you serve? Similar to how dotted lines, curbs and guardrails help you negotiate the roads you travel, this session will offer skills and tools that can assist volunteers in being aware of boundaries in hospice care and show how it has been used to guide both staff and volunteers.
- Define personal and professional relationships
- Determine the boundaries of personal and professional relationships
- Describe potential areas of vulnerability and identify ways to maintain effective relationships and boundaries
2:00 – 2:30 PM ET
Break
2:30 – 4:00 PM ET
Closing Plenary: Do It Well. Make It Fun. The Key to Success in Volunteer Management
Ron Culberson, MSW, CSP, Funner Speeches, LLC, Herndon, VA
